Crypto exchange Bitfront shuts down

“However, despite our efforts … we have regretfully determined that we need to shut down BITFRONT in order to continue growing the LINE blockchain ecosystem and LINK token economy,” the California-based company said in a statement on its website.

Pinterest shuts down its ‘Creator Rewards’ program

Pinterest has shut down its Creator Rewards program that allowed creators to earn money by creating content around monthly prompts and achieving certain engagement goals.

“The Creator Rewards program will end on November 30, 2022. To all the creators who participated, thank you for your partnership. We’re committed to exploring more ways to help you find success on Pinterest and we’re looking forward to finding more opportunities to work together in 2023,” Pinterest said in a note on its creator rewards help page.

The rewards program asked participants to create Idea Pins — a video format introduced by the company last year — based on a monthly theme to earn cash.

The announcement, first reported by The Information, also said that Pinterest will pay a one-time bonus to creators who participated in at least one reward goal for August, September, or October 2022. The company didn’t specify the bonus amount on the Creator Rewards page.

Pinterest said that it is closing this program “in order to focus on other creator programs and features.” Last year, when the company debuted Creator Rewards, it said it planned to invest $20 million in the program. Separately, the company launched a $500,000 Creator Fund last year and injected an additional $1.2 million this year into the project. The social network created this project to help creators from underrepresented communities through cash and ad rewards.

Pinterest is still continuing with programs like the Creator Fund, “shoppable” Idea Pins, and paid partnerships by converting Idea Pins into ads.

Social media companies have been constantly tweaking their creator payment programs in recent times. Last month, Snapchat reduced its payouts to creators from millions of dollars per week to millions of dollars per year. In September, Meta announced that it is closing its Live Shopping program to focus on reels. At the same time, the social media giant also closed its Instagram affiliate program, which allowed creators to get a commission if users purchased tagged products from their posts.

Pinterest shuts down its ‘Creator Rewards’ program by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

South Korean prosecutors seek arrest warrants for Terraform Labs co-founder, investors and engineers

South Korean prosecutors said Wednesday they have requested arrest warrants for eight people related to Terraform Labs for the alleged fraud as the local authorities widen their investigation into the collapse of the TerraUSD and Luna tokens that wiped tens of billions of dollars from the crypto market earlier this year.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office confirmed to TechCrunch that it is seeking arrest warrants for eight people including Terraform Labs co-founder Daniel Shin, three Terraform investors, and four engineers of the cryptocurrencies TerraUSD (UST) and Luna, but did not disclose the identities of most individuals.

The move comes two months after South Korea issued an arrest warrant for another co-founder, Do Kwon, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, and requested Interpol, the international law enforcement agency, to issue a red notice for Kwon.

The prosecutors suspect Shin of taking illegal profits worth approximately $105 million (140 billion won) by selling Luna at the peak without disclosing properly to investors ahead of the Terra-Luna collapse, according to a local media report Yonhap. Shin is also being charged with using customers’ data from his separate fintech startup Chai to promote Luna, violating the Electric Financial Transaction Act. Local authorities reportedly raided the Chai office in mid-November as part of UST-Luna’s fraud probe.

Shin has refuted the claims of trading Luna at a market high and violating the customers’ data. Shin’s lawyer said today Shin left Terraform two years ago before the Terra-Luna collapse, and that he has no ties with the failure, according to local media.

Terraform was founded in Singapore in 2018 by Do Kwon and Shin. Shin left Terraform in March 2020 to found Chai and stepped down as CEO of Chai earlier this year.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecution confirmed a court is set to hold a hearing to determine the validity of the warrants this Friday, December 2.

Terraform’s UST and Luna fell from grace in early May after the so-called stablecoin depegged from its $1 value, wiping out investors’ $40 billion and prompting an uproar. South Korean prosecutors began the investigation after the crash of the UST-Luna token.

South Korean prosecutors seek arrest warrants for Terraform Labs co-founder, investors and engineers by Kate Park originally published on TechCrunch

Samsung to hire around 1,000 engineers for R&D Institutes from IITs and top engineering institutes

Samsung is planning to hire around 1,000 engineers for its R&D institutes across India that include Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore, Samsung R&D Institute Noida, Samsung R&D Institute Delhi and Samsung Semiconductor India Research in Bengaluru. These young engineers will join in 2023 and will work on technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep learning, Image Processing, IoT, Connectivity, Cloud, Big Data, Business Intelligence, Predictive Analysis, Communication Networks, System on a Chip (SoC) and Storage Solutions.

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